Another Finish!

Autumn Alphabet by The Scarlett House.  My good friend was stitching this when we were at Camp Gottastitch last fall.  Another friend suggested changing the pumpkin color from an orange to GAST oatmeal.  I liked it so much, I shamelessly "borrowed" her idea.  This was stitched with one thread over 2 on 36 count linen.  On the pumpkin, I stitched vertically following the curve of the pumpkin.  I'm pleased with how this turned out.

I'm so happy to have so many finished in a row thanks to finishing up some wips that only had a small left to stitch.

Next up (aside from Melicent Turner sampler I already started) will be a birth "sampler" for our grandson.  My goal is to finish/frame this in time for his 1st birthday in May.  It took me a long time to decide which design to stitch for him.

Happy stitching!

Another Older WIP finished!

I ask myself why I put this away without finishing.  All I had left to do was to stitch the spider and the straight stitches on the broom and to attach the button.  Seriously!?!?!?

Well, it's done now!  I even have an idea how to FFO it.

I'm also on the home stretch of Autumn Alphabet by The Scarlett House.  I'm copying the idea of my friend, Renee, and stitching a white pumpkin instead of the orange one as originally charted.

Happy stitching!

Prairie Schooler Garden Gate Sampler

I may have mentioned that one of my 2020 stitching goals is to finish some of my wips.  Here's another one that I finished the other day...PS Garden Gate Sampler.  It's shameful how little I had left to stitch on this one when I put it down.  I can't remember what was going on in my life then but so glad to get this one finally finished.  (I'm tempted to start another one from that leaflet--Garden Samplers #45) though..

Happy stitching!

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas...

This may be my year of the stocking.  I'm working through stockings for our daughter's family to hang on their mantel.  One is totally FFO'd, another is with the finisher, and I just finished stitching buttons on the third one.  They're all from the same (older) Bent Creek series.

I only have the last progress photo I took for this one as I finished the stitching and handed it to Vonna at stitch camp.

Here's the one I finished up yesterday:

I think I'll do a snowman one for our son-in-law.  Stay tuned.

Finishing these this years was one of my stitching goals until, shortly after Christmas when our oldest son asked if I "could do something" about stockings for him and his GF.  I'm still trying to decide what to stitch for them.

Merry Christmas!  ;-)

Happy stitching!

HATS Jane Marshall 1857 Finished!

She was a joy to stitch.  I used Vonna Pfeiffer's DMC conversion with the exception of my own choice of DMC 407 for the lightest pink.  (I happened to have the 407 out while pulling the other flosses and liked how it looked with them.)

Happy stitching!

Lizzie Kate Be My Valentine

I recently found a freebie by Lizzie Kate and, since I didn't start another seasonal project, I stitched up this little cutie.  I think I'll FFO it into a pillow finish to put in a small bowl on our entryway table.

Someday, anyway.

Happy stitching!

Samplers, Stocking, New Floors, Grandchildren, Valentine's Day

January seemed to fly by this year!

I'm enjoying working on 2 samplers....LHN Melicent Turner (participating in a Sampler Sunday sal on the LHN/CCN Facebook group).  I'm stitching her on 32 count (over 2) champagne linen overdyed by Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler and using the called for conversion to Crescent Colour (cotton overdyed floss).

I'm also stitching HATS Jane Marshall sampler.  If you don't know already, Jane was an Australian girl.  HATS released the sampler as a fundraiser for 2 fire brigades in Australia battling the fires there.  I'm stitching Jane on 32 count (over 2) lambswool fabric by Wichelt and using mostly Vonna's DMC conversion.  (The only change I made myself is to use DMC 407 for the lightest pink.)

I've finished the stitching on our daughter's Bent Creek stocking which I'm stitching on 28 count (over 2) Wichelt lambswool.  Because it will be smaller than if I'd used the called-for fabric count, I'm using some buttons in my stash.  Lots of buttons!!  I need to get in gear and stitch them on so I can send it out to be finished.  Next up on the stockings will be another BC stocking in the same series for our son-in-law.  I think it will be one of the snowmen ones but haven't decided for sure yet.

We had our floors replaced in early January from carpeting and wood laminate to tile that looks like hardwood.  It was a lot of work unloading/packing up furniture, moving things around (the floor crew moved the big stuff) and then cleaning up the construction dust and reloading the furniture but it was well worth it!  We both love the floors now and they should be easy to maintain.  They're also waterproof which is a nice feature since we have an elderly dog that often has "accidents".

We also spent about a week in CA visiting our daughter's family and helping out with the kids while our son-in-law was out of town on business.  While there, we celebrated Burns Dinner.  (DSIL is from Scotland and they host a Burns Dinner every year.)  Lucky for me, there was a vegetarian version of haggis that I actually enjoyed.  I don't know what was in it but I know what was NOT in it and that was good enough for me.  ;-)

The "grands" are both doing well and filled with energy which reminded us that it's good that we have our babies when we're young.  Later in the year we get them all to ourselves for about 10 days while our daughter and son-in-law celebrate their anniversary by going on a nice trip.  (DH and I should probably start working out with a physical trainer now to prepare.)

As usual, we have low-key plans for Valentine's Day by having a nice steak dinner at home.  (We've always thought Valentine's Day would be our least favorite day to try to go out to dinner somewhere.)  Weather permitting, we may put a fire in our fire pit and look at the lake that evening.

I'm about to hit my stitching nest and spend some quality time with Melicent.

Happy stitching!